A Gift Exchange Between Sisters
by luckycharm944
Summary: Even though Petunia and Lily weren't on the best of terms all the time, they were still sisters. So every year, they exchanged two gifts with each other. Once at Christmas and once again for each of their birthdays.


**Please review and I'd love some constructive criticism. I'd love to know your opinions on this. I love Lily and James pairings but I got inspired to write this piece. It's my first fanfic so..enjoy.**

Every year, Petunia sent her sister two gifts, one for her birthday and the other for Christmas. Twice a year, Lily would stay home all day and eagerly await the post, sitting on a wide red couch.

That was their tradition.

No matter how many fights they'd ever gotten into, no matter how many times petunia had screamed "I hate you", no matter any circumstances, they would always have this one thing-the only thing-that would keep them linked together. Lily would send off her gifts the day before so Petunia could always be reminded to send her presents too. Lily always worried about her sister one day deciding not to continue to bond with her anymore in the only way that they did. They both knew in a painstakingly obvious way that their relationship would be cut off entirely without the ritual that tied them together.

* * *

Seventh year:

The day before, Lily had sent off her owl, Hadley, to Petunia's house hoping that he would once again, like he had for the last three years, come with a parcel gripped in his little talons. Lily had never wanted a big celebration on her birthday if she could help it because she always wanted to be alone when she received Petunia's gifts. It didn't matter to Lily what she got as long as she got something at all. Later that day, she got her present: a makeup kit wrapped in heart themed paper and twine. She immediately wrote back a thank you note and sent Hadley off again.

"Hey Lily!" called Marlene. "Let's go to the kitchens to celebrate. It is your birthday after all."

"Alright," Lily called back. Lily carefully set down the makeup on her bedside table as if it was a priceless artifact. Which it was, to her. She grinned widely and caught up to Marlene in the common room. She got back to her dorm at curfew and immediately saw a group of giggling girls huddled around her bed. "Hey.." she said confusedly. "What are you doing?"

"Oh..Lily!" exclaimed one of the girls (her name was Darla, she believed) in a startled voice as she looked up at Lily with a guilty look on her face. "I'm sorry we didn't ask first but we just saw all this gorgeous makeup here and and we wanted to try it on so bad that we just did. I mean we would've asked but you were gone and no one knew where you went. So we used it and then Lila and Gwen wanted to try it too and then all the girls started coming over here...I'm sorry; it's all my fault." she rambled on. "You have every right to be mad at me, or us, or just me because I know that I would be mad too. I don't know why we didn't stop but I don't know, once we started we just didn't. And it's really beautiful make up and I guess that's the reason why we...used up most of it." Darla held up the palet that was full of makeup a few hours ago and was now nearly empty and dusted with blended powders and lip gloss. I looked at all of them, each and every one of them with heavily coated faces. And felt anger.

"So because I wasn't here, you just used it without asking. You just thought "Oh, it's just Lily. She'll understand." You just stole it from me when I wasn't here to see and thought that it would be fine. Fuck you." With another penetrating glare, she repeated the words. "Fuck you."

Sophie-a skinny brunette-spoke first to Lily. "It's just makeup. We'll pay for it; don't overreact so much. I mean, it's not like we stole your money from you." The others silently nodded in agreement.

Lily felt tears prickling in her eyes and turned away from them. She prayed that they had not seen her tears yet, grabbed the makeup and ran. To where she did not know but she would run as far and fast as she could, where no one would find her and she would be left alone to be miserable with her treasured gift from her big sister that had been used carelessly, not knowing of where it had come from and how valued it was.

* * *

Petunia had never really let anyone know about her attachment to the two gifts she received each year, especially not her husband. He would never understand why she still did this thing with her sister-even if he wouldn't dare try to make her stop if it made her happy-when usually all he heard about Lily from Petunia's mouth were not exactly compliments. Petunia would say to herself sometimes that she didn't even know why she still encouraged or contributed to the tradition by choosing, wrapping, and sending off presents but she did know why.

She never stopped hoping that her little sister would give up her other world for her. If Lily would give up her magic, then maybe at the rare times they actually talked in person, Petunia wouldn't feel so stupid and ignorant about the world. It was hard enough to relate to her sister when she was gone for most of a year to study magic in a castle in Scotland while she herself just studied for the next science test in an empty house but when Lily finished her "education" and Petunia moved out, it was nearly impossible to communicate without the constant excuse of their parents forcing them to spend time together in the subtlest way that they could. That's why in Lily's fourth year, Petunia got the guts to initiate the beginning of their private tradition.

When her twenty-fourth birthday came up and Lily sent her a deep blue purse along with a note, she didn't know that it would be the last form of contact with her sister before Lily Evans Potter would die for her child. And the night that Harry turned up unexpectedly on her doorstep, she stayed up until the early hours of morning, gripping her sister's- her _dead_ sister's note and re-reading it over repeatedly as if looking for answers. The note said: "I love you. Don't ever forget that or think otherwise. Love, Lily."


End file.
